Trail of Shadows
by Skyllon
Summary: Ren, Aro, and Yui are aspiring young wizards, and are a part of the Silver Fish Guild, in Magnolia, Fiore. All three of them highly enjoy a life of adrenaline, but things go horribly wrong when they take a mission that they are much too inexperienced for...
1. Beginnings

Ren's POV

I jumped out of the way as a burst of orange energy escaped from Aro's fist.

"Watch where you're aiming Aro!" I exclaimed, extremely irritated.

"Watch out! There's someone behind you!" The voice was in my head, and belonged to one of my teammates, Yui.

I quickly whirled around, and the person trying to attack me phased right through me. I smirked, sometimes looks can be deceiving, I know mine sure are. I had a pretty scrawny build as a 1I 7-year-old, and my dull gray hair was far from threatening. The only thing remotely threatening about me were my eyes, which were a glowing silver color.

"How are you doing Aro? Any luck getting rid of these annoying Dark Wizards?" I yelled towards Aro, as I myself tried to knock out one of the Dark Wizards.

"No luck!" He exclaimed, clearly agitated that even his powerful magic wasn't strong enough to knock out even a single Dark Wizard.

And then… I fainted. I had no idea why, I just felt a searing pain, and lost consciousness. When I came to, my wrists were shackled to a mossy stone wall, together with Aro and Yui.

"Do you guys have any idea what happened?" I asked, my voice echoing throughout the deserted room.

"No idea." Aro and Yui muttered, almost simultaneously. I groaned, right before losing consciousness once again.

For this story to make any sense, I have to go back about 24 hours, when Aro, Yui, and I were picking a mission at the Silver Fish guild hall.

. . .

I sighed as Aro and Yui dragged me over to the mission board, we all really needed some cash, living alone at 17 isn't always the best thing.

"I know we all really need really need some money to pay rent, and, well, eat, but lets not take any missions that we know we won't be able to complete." But, as always, Aro and Yui completely ignored me, the voice of reasoning.

"Guys! Look at this one!" Aro called out. "All we have to do is bring down this dark guild, which supposedly isn't very strong, and we get 3,000,000 Jewel! That's 1,000,000 Jewel for each of us!"

While it did have a great reward, the mission was A-Class rated, and all of us, me, Aro, and Yui, were all still C-Class. I sighed. "Aro, this mission does have a great reward, but it's A-Class rated, and we're all still C-Class."

"Oh shut up Ren!" Aro exclaimed. "These rating are just suggestions anyway!" Of course, in the end, I gave in, I always did. So, there we were, a bunch of teenagers walking through the outskirts of Magnolia, heading towards a Dark Guild were knew almost nothing about.

We knew a grand total of 2 things about this guild, its name, and its location. It was the Shadow Trail "Independent" Guild, which basically meant they would take any mission illegal for a normal guild. All we knew about its location was that it was west of our guild, the Silver Fish Guild.

After hours upon hours of traveling west, we finally reached a massive, ornately decorated building. We found a spot about a mile west of the building to camp out, after all, nighttime was fast approaching.

When morning came, we decided to stay hidden until we had a definite strategy to take down the guild. We stared at the the building from afar for at least 3 hours before we decided that there were no security flaws, and that the best thing we could do was attack directly. As always,

Yui hung back to use her Future Perception Magic, which allowed her to see almost every possible outcome of the immediate future, and her Telepathy, which let her communicate with people from far away.

Aro and I, who used more offensive magic, advanced apprehensively. After maybe 5 minutes of fighting face to face with the Dark Wizards, Aro and I were captured, and apparently, so was Yui.

. . .


	2. Changes

Ren's POV

As I hung there, completely helpless, I couldn't help but wondering, would the members of the Shadow Trail Guild torture us for information, or would they just leave us here to die? Just as I was about to drift off to sleep, I heard a thumping noise, and saw a male figure descending a set of stairs I hadn't notice before. The man seemed to be tall and muscular, his hair was short and black, he had an eyepatch over his left eye, and his right eye was a shocking yellow color.

"Well? Do you like our dungeon?" The man boomed, he had a surprisingly deep voice. "There are two ways out of this mess for your youngsters, either you defect from whatever guild you're from, and join us, or… we kill you.

"I think we should spy on them...you know, from the inside." Yui's shy but firm voice exclaimed in my head. I gave a slight nod, to signify that I agreed with her, as did Aro.

"Well? What will it be?" The man, who I assumed was the guildmaster, thundered.

"Well sir," I said quietly. "We are going to defect. No doubt about it."

Aro and Yui nodded their heads vigorously and murmured their approval towards my statement.

"Very well. You may refer to me as Head Shadow." He boomed. "However, before we decide not to kill you, tell us what magic you use.

I nodded. "Well, Head Shadow, I use Soul Replication Magic, I can copy people's characteristics, and to some extent, use their magic." I smiled slightly. "Soul Replication Magic can be used to create an entirely fake persona, but since I cannot copy all of a person's physical characteristics, it cannot be used to replicate a person who is already alive."

"I see." The Head Shadow thundered, he didn't really seem to be able to talk anywhere below a scream. " He may live." He said grimly pointing at me. Just like that, I felt the shackles disappear, and I landed on the ground with a slight "Umph".

"You." He said, with his scream of a voice, pointing at Aro.

Aro gulped. "I use B-Burst M-Magic sir." He said stammering, he wasn't nearly as good under pressure as I was.

"Explain." The Head Shadow said with a voice that clearly conveyed boredom.

"Well sir," Aro said. "I can use Burst Magic to enhance my physical attributes by up to 50 times their normal ability. I can also shoot bursts of pure magic power, and I can use Burst Magic to feed magic powers to my allies, revitalizing their stamina."

"Hmm… he may live." The Head Shadow said with his commanding voice, it sent chills down my spine. In the blink of an eye, Aro's shackles disappeared, and he scrambled up and stood beside me.

"And you, the girl." The Head Shadow stared at Yui with his right eye.

"Yes sir," Yui said, with a nonchalant voice. "I use Future Perception Magic, which allows me to view many, if not all, of the outcomes of the immediate future. I also use False Memory Magic, which allows me to manipulate the memories of those who I choose to fight." Yui's eyes were gazing right back into the Head Shadow's eye by the end of this statement.

"The girl... " The Head Shadow said cooly. "May live as well." Yui's handcuffs disappeared as she calmly got up to stand beside me and Aro.

. . .


End file.
